Following the Sparkles
by remthedogsitter
Summary: In the land of Aaa something strange begins to happen and two worlds are accidentally swept into a few unforeseen mishaps. MarhshallXGumball MarcelinexBubblegum finnXFlameprincess amongst other pairings
1. Chapter 1: It Happened in the Night

Following the Sparkles

Author: remthedogsitter

Summary: In the land of Aaa something strange begins to happen and two worlds are accidentally swept into a few unforeseen mishaps. MarhshallXGumball MarcelinexBubblegum finnXFlameprincess amongst other pairings

The sun was beginning to set in the Land of Aaa, Marshall Lee from the safety of his cave watched as the shadows descended over the land. With enough darkness he made his way out, axebass resting comfortably on his back and trusty umbrella in one hand, he floated in the direction of the Candy Kingdom. He had been on good terms with Prince Gumball lately ever since that awkward moment with the Door Lord, there was always distracting Fionna from the scene but Gumball at least boasted more focus and attention than that.

They were supposed to hang out tonight at the old tree house and watch a new Heat Signature movie that Fionna found on one of her latest adventures. His undead heart twitched at the thought of being next to Gumball in the dark, it was ok to feel like this right? For friends?

Lost in his thoughts he didn't notice the small rustle in the bushes as he entered gumdrop forest, he was after all the Vampire King and in this dark night he was at his strongest, his element. A great burst of white light then the night was still again.

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"Strange," Prince Gumball muttered to himself as he checked his watch, it was quite long after sunset already and the movie was starting soon. Marshall Lee told him they'd go together tonight to Fionna's house (the Candy Kingdom was on the way to the tree house anyway he said_), maybe he just forgot_, the pink prince sighed. He didn't want to assume too much on their young friendship and didn't think any more of it.

"Peppermint maid, I'm leaving already with MonChro. I wont be back too late." The young master called to his ever faithful maid attending to her duties in the main hall.

"Alright my Prince, I'll have something warm ready for you when you return." She called back.

Prince Gumball walked out into the chilly night, warm in his favorite pink sweater, if he was lucky he could still catch Lord before he left.

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Marhsall Lee groaned as he began to regain consciousness. He was face first in the grass and judging by the sugary smell he was still in gumdrop forest. The tiny gumdrop creatures that lived on the forest floor began to stir which only meant that sunrise was coming soon. His head was throbbing but he was at least thankful that he had enough hindsight to bring his umbrella.

The Candy Kingdom was within sight and his headache wasn't going away. _PG probably wont mind if I hide out under his bed for a few hours_ he grinned he could kill two birds with one stone, apologize for last night and play an elaborate prank. In the back of his mind however was stirring with a string of frustration, who dares attack the Vampire King out in the open night? At least if it was an attack and not some fluke accident.

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It was well into the afternoon when Marshall began to stir, refreshed and ready to wreak havoc. He smirked as he turned invisible, his keen senses were telling him Fionna and Gumball were probably in the main hall. He floated through the corridors and down the grand staircase to see the two back turned towards him, it was just perfect.

He transformed into a tentacle monster before he turned visible "BOO!"

There was a high girlish scream.

"What the GLUB?" when the two turned who he thought was Fionna was actually a boy and Gummy was a long haired princess.

The not Fionna exclaimed back as he punched him across the face. "WHO THE GLUB ARE YOU?"

"I SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THE SAME THING." He shouted back turning back to his regular form and taking a small retreat backwards to assess the situation. The hair on the back of his neck bristled and his senses were high with adrenaline. If these two were here where's Fionna and the Prince?

"You're a vampire…" the boy said slowly lowering the sword he brought out in the commotion. "Do you happen to know Marceline the Vampire Queen?"

Marshall's eyes widened, HE was the King of the Vampires and he knew he didn't marry anyone. "What the glub are you talking about? I AM the only ruler of Vampires that I know of.

"This is quite a troubling situation." The pink lady frowned. "Put your sword down Finn I don't think he means any harm. That means you too." She looked at him with a knowing look. He twitched, his hand was already curled only needed a second to summon a sword. He relented, it looks like they both needed anwers.

"Whatever." He muttered leaning back, floating but still very much alert.

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Author's note: OMG I'm actually writing this. Should I continue?


	2. Chapter 2: The Importance of Being Earne

Following the Sparkles

Chapter 2: The Importance of Being Earnest

The Flame Princess had a temper, a temper only matched by her body temperature. She wasn't quite sure how she woke up here in the middle of verdant plains, to her back was the direction of the fire kingdom and up ahead was the sight of a familiar tree house, one she almost burned down once upon a time.

In any case her head was throbbing, it was best to go home for now. As she turned back however something tackled her from behind in death hug.

"FP where you been?"

Flame Princess in her surprise revved up in a blazing inferno.

"Hey, it's cool FP it's just me. Fionna" To her shock though it wasn't the Fire Prince she hugged but a girl.

For a second they both looked at each other.

"Uhm, hi I'm Fionna." She blushed, stepping back to give the Flame Princess her personal space back. "Sorry about that I thought you were someone else."

Flame Princess looked at her in amazement, she looked exactly like Finn white hat and clad in blue, a water elemental yet she did not get burned in her flames. One second the field was ablaze but now that she was calm she willed the fire back inside her. "You're a water elemental aren't you? Why don't I hurt you?"

"Maybe you know the Flame Prince?" Fionna was cheerful again, embarrassment forgotten. "Well, he discovered some ancient texts that told of an elemental amulet and next thing you know after a long adventure I have this." She pulled out from her blouse a diamond shaped amulet of gnarled wood, veined with blue and green holding a bright red stone in the center like a cage.

"I don't know any Flame Prince." Flame Princess commented still transfixed by the object. "Well, at least until I left the kingdom a while back and my father didn't mention any more children either."

"Hey I got a totally mathematical idea, how about you come over to my tree house and hang out? Maybe you can ask FP when he comes around to meet me tonight."

The next thing she knows, Flame Princess was being dragged unmercifully to the place she thought she could never visit again. _Wait… did this girl just say her treehouse?_

Marshall in all his thousand years have seen both the best and the worst of this world, from the most interesting to the most extraordinary but the theory he was hearing now was just plain strange. Alternate Worlds where everything is topsy turvey? He would have laughed in your face if it wasn't the reality facing him now.

Finn looked confused but tried his best to understand and Jake was hiding behind his best friend having only woken up from his fainting spell a few minutes ago.

"I think the most important thing now is to find out who else has been 'swapped' and from there figure out the cause of all this and hopefully get everyone to their proper times, who knows what havoc this could cause the space time continuum!" Bubblegum exclaimed walking across her lab away from the chalkboard.

"Not to worry Princess I'm on it!" Finn jumped to his feet, finally something his hero brain could understand, another grand quest. In a few minutes he was out the door before Bubblegum could start another lecture on theory.

Bubblegum sighed. "Why must things be so difficult, always difficult with you Marceline." It seemed as though she had forgotten that he, the Vampire King was still in the room. "Oh! Forgive my rudeness Marshall Lee would you like something to eat?" she snapped out of her stupor and made her way to the door. "Come this way I still have some food from this morning if Peppermint Butler hasn't prepared anything yet."

Marshall raised an eyebrow at her evasion all of a sudden, certainly this was a very strange version of the Land of Aaa indeed. He followed either way, his stomach rumbled at the reminder of food.

He followed her to the kitchen, a small table in the corner was elaborately set and looked like it was used often as a makeshift breakfast nook, two worn couches on either end, a table for two. What was to amaze him next was the amount of red food on the table, there was a pink lemon meringue pie, mixed berry cakes, red velvet pancakes and all sort of fruits that he was sure didn't come in the shades of red that were on the table.

"Feel free to dig in, I trust you'll find it to your liking." The princess gave a tired smile as Peppermint Butler handed her a cup of warm tea but all together muttered under his breath "glob it's another vampire… why me?"

Suspiciously Marshall (hovering over the couch across her) took a tentative bite of the pancakes until he drained the color dry. "Wow, just wow that was delicious." He complimented before tucking into the spread before him.

Princess Bubblegum just smiled. "Marceline gave me a lot of practice."

But it was the look in the Princess' eyes that caused the Vampire King to pause and really look at her. "Are you two…?" he held up his pinky finger and wiggled it.

The Princess blushed and looked away. "If you mean together, betrothed, lovers… then yes, yes we are. For some time now." She began to look sad again.

"Is there something the matter Princess…?" he felt uneasy, this girl right in front of him, so much like Bubba back home but there was a small fundamental difference, the person in front of him hopelessly and irrevocably in love.

"It's nothing, nothing." The Princess forced a smile and stood up. "Sorry for leaving you Marshall Lee but I have other duties as you can imagine…" she began to ramble and excused herself but before she could make it out the door Marshall called "Princess, you should tell me your story sometime, you know you and Marceline and whatevers, things back in where I come from are a little… complicated."

"Some other time then."

Author's Note: hmm, expect short but frequent chapters :D


	3. Chapter 3: Unpleasant Coincidence

Following the Sparkles

Chapter 3: Unpleasant Coincidence

AN: I have just realized the size of this project when I looked at all the "major" characters I introduced thus far so I'm thinking of focusing on one track/character at a time to develop and hopefully wrap them all up near the end of this chaos… now the question who to write first?

Marshall Lee floated around the castle to kill some time and curiosity, the Princess thought it was best he stayed here in case his presence had too much of an impact of their world but with the day quickly turning to night he found himself more and more awake. It was just after dinner when he decided to settle in the library where he and Gumball would sometimes watch movies or the candy royal would be reading a book and he would be fusing over some new song he was trying to perfect. The Candy Kingdom in this world wasn't very different to what he was used to back home minus constantly being shooed away by Peppermint Maid, in fact the palace staff treated him more warmly then he remembered them on his side. Peppermint Butler actually greeted him once or twice today with an actual smile.

The Princess as it turned out was busy ever since he last saw her that afternoon and having nothing better to do went to back to her bedroom to retrieve his bass but as he entered the room, there were things he didn't notice before. The wardrobe for one was a mix of polar opposites, one side was in dark shades of black and greys and reds and the other full of pink. There was a guitar stand next to the bed and the other bed side had a small dresser, slightly open and it was full of books and papers. Amongst other small details he could tell the space was made to accommodate both the vampire and the princess almost equally. He almost felt a little jealous, didn't the self of this world they call Marceline remember (from what he could tell the events in their lives in these parallel worlds are almost identical) the promise on that tombstone from once upon a time? Mortals are fragile things, short lived things—impossible not to love but painful to lose.

"Oh, good evening Marshall Lee." Bubblegum greeted him as she came into her room, her hair was wet most likely from the royal bath house, she was dressed in a black rock shirt and pajamas with a book in hand. "I've already asked Peppermint Butler to prepare a room for you when you feel like sleeping." She settled into a couch next to the open window that led to the balcony. "Could you… would you like to stay for a little bit?"

The question surprised him but it was better than doing nothing. "Alright Princess." He got comfortable and hovered over the bed, bass resting on his stomach. "Would you mind if I play a little?"

"Not at all, that would be lovely." She sounded tired.

Idly he let his fingers go over the chords and strummed gently and from that point PB noticed the small differences between the vampire king and her lover, the sound he made was a little harsher, having a more distorted tone to them but at the same time it sounded guarded, the sound from a very wary person.

_i wanna stay here in the dark with you_

_let monsters come and death fly by_

_i'll watch you, i'll hold you as you sigh_

_there's no fear here, that's all thats true_

_i wanna stay here in the dark with you_

_till the warmth meets cold_

_till i read your tombstone_

_the nights, the brightest days_

_no matter what anyone says_

_know that this is true_

_i'll remember you, long long after you_

_i just wanted to stay in the dark with you—_

He stopped abruptly when the Princess began to cry. "Princess—"

"She was going to leave Marshall." He realized this problem was just lurking under the surface and he brought managed to push it over the edge. For what it was worth he lowered his guitar onto the bed and floated over next to her and drifted down closer for what comfort it might give.

She leaned into his shoulder muttering unintelligible things but from what he could pick up Marceline indeed remembered that promise and the hard lesson on mortality, unsure of himself he draped an arm around her shoulders, she had already slip herself under his chin.

However the moment lips meet lips and a hand get uncomfortably close to his crotch, he stiffens defensively, he wasn't sure anymore who kissed who but he was going to stop… she tasted just like him, or at least what he imagined Prince Gumball to taste like, not exactly like bubblegum with a small hint of saltiness. He pulls away as the hand climbs higher.

"Princess, this isn't right." He says with conviction floating again. "I'm not the reset button for your relationship with the other me and you're not my chance at someone quite dear to me. We wont be fooling anyone except ourselves…" He picks up his guitar and leaves out the window, floating up into the night sky to gather his thoughts on the roof where he's spent many nights if only to listen to the candy royal back home sleep. Indeed even if only for a rebound that offer was tempting. She hears her, still crying softly for what seems like hours until only there are the soft snores of sleep, she even sounds like him.

"_Just great._"He mutters to himself imaging the amount of awkwardness that's going to follow this situation. He leans back and cradles his guitar again, trying to think of who could be behind this whole mess.

"GLOB I THINK I KNOW!" his eyes widen at the realization, it's been almost five hundred years but that sounded like the most probably explanation.

"Finn are you sure you know where we're going?"

"Sure man, I mean we bumped into Marshall right? If anyone else was swapped we'll bump into them too… or you know fall into a dungeon like we usually do and find the treasure to fix all this."

"Bro, you worry me sometimes."

The two looked up as they heard a high pitched cackling and a wall of ice suddenly block their path.

"Finn, I think I'm starting to hate it when you're right."


End file.
